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2061 Roland Garros
Young Frenchman (26)Willy Bochette was a surprise as the only seed to exit in the first round, in four sets to Sorel. I would have figured home court advantage to guarantee him at least a couple of wins here. Three more fell in the second round, including Edleman and Stachovsky, both of whom will be quite disappointed in such an early exit. The next couple of rounds held a surprise here and there but nothing major. (12)Brian Meikeljohn and (8)Chalerm Prachuab contested the most epic match of the tournament to date in the fourth round, with Meikeljohn eventually prevailing 8-6 in the 5th.
One of the most significant factors was who was not here, as Mateo Kaspar had abandoned singles play completely months ago in pursuit of his doubles goals. (6)Stuart Pargeter lost in the first week, largely due to his doubles work as Kaspar's partner, but still most of the top players made it through to the quarterfinals.
The first match was a stunning one, with Karl Kaspar's bit for a 3-peat here prematurely derailed by American Hugo Cordova, an 11-seed considered past his prime. 6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 was the final, and it was a match that Karl should have won. He was the more consistent player but managed not to find many break chances despite that, and it was close in terms of quality. Just a really stunning result. Cordova was a semifinalist here two years ago but aside form that has done nothing at RG. Hamal Sbai lost as well, a four-set match to Hart that was not as much of a shock. For the second straight round, Meikeljohn won 8-6 in the 5th as Ritwik Dudwadkar waved goodbye, and Seamus Hughes was the only player not to win a set, against Chiba.
None of the top four players in the world rankings made the semifinals. This was truly to be a bizarre end to the tournament. Cordova worked his magic again, winning another match in which he was slightly outplayed over John Hart, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 1-6, 6-3. In the end, Hugo was more steady here over the majority of play, but had that one terrible set in the 4th. A surprisingly easy win over Meikeljohn for Sushant Chiba set up an unexpected finale. This time his US foe had no surprises up his sleeve, and a trio of 6-3 sets later it was over. Chiba claims his first Slam title, and with it moves up to #3(effectively #2 with Mateo gone) in the world! It's rare to see somebody win this event without losing a set. He had a couple of tiebreakers earlier on(Chinaglia and Hughes) but neither of them were close. So for this year at least, Sushant is overall the best on the dirt.
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